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The Centrepiece Gala had me at ‘ukulele’ and ‘zombies’. Abe Forsyth’s zom-com doesn’t take itself too seriously and is full of laugh-out-loud dialogue and devastatingly winsome performances from Lupita Nyong’o, Alexander England and a class full of kindergarten kids. Continue reading
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A black and white oddity, this restored copy of the 1990 film by American Nietzchka Keene is known primarily as singer Björk’s first feature film. Continue reading
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It’s hard not to leave this sparse and atmospheric Peruvian drama feeling desolate. Likened to Roma (2018) for its lush black-and-white cinematography and focus on an indigenous woman in central America, it is profoundly moving but a more fragmented and opaque experience. Continue reading
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“Don’t drink standing up. Satan will see you. And with your left hand too!” Continue reading
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Except for a slight misstep in the third act, this darkly funny evisceration of violent men and mob mentality hits all the right notes (pun intended). It is a strong debut by director Mirrah Foulkes. Continue reading
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“He is my son. This is my love.” says a mother as she carries her young son, killed by an air strike. He was taken by his brothers to the makeshift hospital that Hamza, the husband of journalist and a writer/director Waad Al-Khateab has established in Aleppo during the siege of 2016. Continue reading
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Lynn Shelton knows how to tell a good story. I loved Hump Day (2009) and Your Sister’s Sister (2011) and, like them, Sword of Trust is full of wry humour, great characters and cracking dialogue. Continue reading
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Documentaries like this one aren’t an easy ride. You are dropped into the middle of a cluster of stories with no context, narration nor exposition to help you understand where you are. You have to have the patience to sit back and let the stories unfurl and the characters to worm their way into your heart. Continue reading
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A disappointingly flat and somewhat tone-deaf treatment of an interesting topic. Continue reading
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The Killing Fields (1984) was an influential movie for me. I was 19 when it came out and it was my first experience of the atrocities of Pol Pot in Cambodia and the eradication of 2 million people. Funan covers the same story, focusing on one family who are forced to flee Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge (or Angkar). Continue reading
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